CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Gary Kumashiro is a state agricultural commodities marketing specialist who spends much of his time inspecting eggs at Eggs Hawaii Inc. in Kalihi. Part of the process involves holding the eggs against a light, called "candling."

The egg man

Gary Kumashiro looks for imperfections in eggs and other food products so you don't have to

Gary Kumashiro has had the same job for 33 years and he likes it that way. Not only does his position as agricultural commodities marketing specialist at the state Department of Agriculture keep him socially involved, meeting and working with people in his field, it also helps fund his frequent trips abroad, like his latest trip to China, which began this past Saturday.

Interviewed last week before leaving on the vacation, Kumashiro said the essence of his job is to inspect fruit, vegetables and eggs for quality and condition.

He and the other department commodities inspectors rotate their duties between the various categories of foodstuffs, but many of his shifts through the years have been spent inspecting eggs at Eggs Hawaii Inc., based in Kalihi, which takes in eggs from chicken farms on Oahu and processes them for sale under the "Hawaiian Maid" brand.

Kumashiro says he never gets bored inspecting the eggs, even though he estimates he looks at thousands of them every day.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Gary Kumashiro held an egg last week against a "candling" light, which revealed a "check" or slight crack on it. Besides eggs, Kumashiro inspects agricultural commodities such as fruits and vegetables, checking for quality and condition.

Before taking on his job with the state, Kumashiro served for several years in the U.S. Army, which sent him to language school in Washington, D.C., for a year before sending him to Thailand where he worked as a Laotian-language translator during the Vietnam War.

He went into the Army right after obtaining a bachelor's degree in horticulture from the University of Hawaii. It was either enlist or get drafted, he said, "so I chose to volunteer."

Kumashiro, now 62 ("I could be collecting Social Security right now"), also is a graduate of Kaimuki High School. He is single and has never been married, though he hasn't ruled it out.

"I'm still looking," the Maikiki resident said last week. "That's one reason why I travel around the world."

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Gary Kumashiro has been a food inspector with the state Department of Agriculture for 33 years. He put eggs under a light last week at Eggs Hawaii Inc. to check for imperfections.

Mark Coleman: I was told your title is commodities inspector.

Gary Kumashiro: Yes. Well, actually "agricultural commodities marketing specialist." People ask me, "What do you market?" Even when I first signed up for this job, I looked at the staff position title -- it had "marketing specialist" in there -- but there's no marketing.

Q: You don't do any marketing?

A: When I first started, there was a marketing section within the branch. But then they went and formed their own branch.

Q: So today you're inspecting eggs at Eggs Hawaii?

A: Yes.

Q: What other kinds of commodities or foodstuffs do you inspect?

A: We also inspect fruits and vegetables.

Q: Do you personally do that?

A: Yes.

Q: How do you rotate on that?

A: We have a list of inspectors in the office, and every week we have a different assignment. So last week I was in the produce section, and this week I'm in the eggs.

Q: Where would you be inspecting fruits and vegetables?

A: We go to various produce companies.

Q: Are those all over the island?

A: They're mostly in the Kalihi area, not too far from our office, so it's not too bad. They used to be all over, but now they're mostly just in this general area.

Q: Do you actually go to supermarkets? Or just to produce suppliers?

A: Yes, the produce suppliers. But we also go to supermarkets and check on the fruits, vegetables and eggs. So wholesalers and retailers.

Q: What kinds of things are you looking for in your inspections?

A: Well actually, the produce companies call because there might be some kind of a defect. For example a container comes in from the mainland and maybe there was a lot of decayed produce. So we go there and make an inspection and report on the percentage of defect that we find. Then we come back to our office and we make a certificate, and then we mail that back to the wholesaler or the produce company, and then they can use that as a guide when they ask for credit from the shipper.

Q: What are you looking for when you inspect the eggs?

A: Same thing: quality. We look at the shell texture, if it's smooth or rough. We also look at the shape, and if there's any cracks in the eggs. We call those "checks."

Q: Are you grading eggs and other commodities according to their sizes or appearance or whatever?

A: Yeah, yeah. We also have a scale, and we check for weight. Some people call and ask us, "How come we just bought large eggs and they're so small?" But we don't go by size. We go by weight.

Q: Are you looking for health-related dangers, too?

A: Well, actually, when I first get here in the morning, we do a sanitation inspection, to make sure the conveyor and the machine parts where the egg is in contact -- all the way until it goes through the washer and through the candling booth -- are clean.

You see, when the eggs first come in, they come in from the farm. ... So those eggs, when they're picked up, they're not clean, and that's why they have to go to the processing plant and be cleaned. So the eggs are washed, and then they're placed in the candling booth. The candlers are pulling all the bad eggs -- the dirty eggs or the ones with checks. So they're watching. They have a candling booth with the light and they're watching.

Q: When you say "they," who is that?

A: The candlers. There's normally two candlers in the candling booth, sometimes one.

Q: And they work for Eggs Hawaii?

A: Yes, yeah.

Q: Are you the only Department of Agriculture guy there every day?

A: We have only one person a day here. Then next week, somebody else will be here.

Q: How many egg processors are there in Hawaii?

A: There's one more across the street: Associated Producers. There's one more in Wahiawa, but they don't have a candling booth.

Q: Do you have somebody out there, too?

A: No. The reason we're here is Eggs Hawaii contracts with us to be here all day. They're running the eggs through and we check eggs randomly.

A: No. Actually, the reason I was going to retire was our office used to be on King Street, by Keeaumoku, and I lived about a 10-minute walk away -- very convenient for me. Then we moved over here to Sand Island, so it's not so convenient for me anymore. But I'm still working because I like to travel a lot. So my supervisor told me, "Keep working and keep traveling, because otherwise you'll spend all your savings and you won't be able to travel."

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Meeting people, working with people.

Q: Anything you don't like?

A: Well ... (Laughter) After working for 33 years, yeah, it's OK. I enjoy my job.

"Hawaii at Work" features people telling us what they do for a living. Send suggestions to mcoleman@starbulletin.com